December 7, 2012

Nativity Christmas Craft

At our playgroup Christmas party last week one of my fellow assistant organizers put together a Christmas craft for the children to do. *Months after writing this I realized the source of the inspiration for this craft was Frugal Fun for Boys.* My boys tend to get distracted playing with their friends at these events, so we brought the supplies home to put together later that afternoon. I love the simplicity of this manger craft. It is perfect for little hands and short attention spans.

How to Make a Simple Manger Craft

The craft stick represented the Baby Jesus. JZ (5) and J-Bug (3) drew a face on the stick.

My friend had prepped all the craft supplies in advance. She used only the bottom portion of the paper bag. The bag represented the manger. Each boy wrapped his Baby Jesus in toilet paper like swaddling clothes.

As we assembled the manger craft we talked about the Christmas story. We have read the story together many times, and this was a great opportunity to talk about each portion of the story and explain details in terms they understand. Swaddling clothes was a new term to them, and they enjoyed carefully wrapping their baby.

Next we filled the bag with straw, so the manger was filled with hay.

Then the boys glued the verse Luke 1:15, "And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth." to complete the manger craft as a reminder of the celebration of Christmas.

Finally, they put the baby in the manger filled with hay.

For more manger crafts and Christmas fun for kids follow me on Pinterest.

O this is WONDERFUL!!!! Easy and fast but cute! I teach Sunday school and I only have like 40 so with teaching and distractions, reinforcing crafts are often very hard! This will be PERFECT to end out this season! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU ! so blessed!!!!! :)